Darryl Sutter had the Canadian masses in an uproar when he said he was going to the White House on Tuesday to confront the President of the United States about the Keystone XL pipeline.
But it seems that all those who cheered the former Calgary Flames GM and head coach, and coach of the current Stanley Cup champions Los Angeles Kings, as a true Albertan, and those who jeered him for being an Alberta good old boy, had little to get excited about after all.
According to the LA Times, the conversation between the two never got as far as Keystone.
In an email to the newspaper, Sutter is quoted as saying he and Obama spoke about hockey, family and Chicago, and they "didn't talk about Keystone."
Opponents of the proposed $7-billion pipeline, which will start near Hardisty, Alta. and carry 800,000 barrels of oilsands bitumen through the U.S. and on to the Gulf Coast daily, attacked Sutter for politicizing his team's White House visit.
The Kings, as well as the LA Galaxy soccer club, were invited to meet with Obama to commemorate the two reigning champions.
Proponents of the pipeline praised Sutter for embracing his Alberta roots and used him as an example of what a Canadian ambassador is supposed to be doing. They were quick to compare Sutter to NDP leader Thomas Mulcair, who attacked Canada's environmental record and spoke out against Keystone in a recent visit to Washington.
Sutter was born in central Alberta, owns a 3,000-acre ranch near Viking, Alta. and is one of six brothers who played in the NHL.
